The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-06-03
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Tribute to the Sailors Whose
Achievements Are Forgotten.
Deeds q Naval Heroes Who Sleep He.
meath the Sea-Impresstve Word
Printing Of Historic Fleets
and Their CommnnderA

Deeds q Naval Heroes VINO Sleep Re.
meath the Sea-Impressive Word
P1lnttng Of Historic Fleets
and Their Commander.
nv. 7. Dewitt Talmage preached .
memorial sermon in the Brooklyn Tab
ernacle, on . recent Sabbath, in which he
devoted his attention more particularly
for his text:
Behold also the ships-James ILL.,, L
He said: II this exclamation were ap-
propriate about eighteen hundred and
sixty years ago, when it was written con-
corning the crude fishing smacks that
s>iled Lake Galilee, how much moro ap-
p,opfiate in an age which has launched
from. the dry docks for purposes Of
peace the Arizona, of the Guion Line; the
CITY OF Richmond, Of the Inmau Line;
the Egypt, Of the National Line; the Ger
manic, o. the White Star Line; the Cir
cassia. OF the Anchor Line; the Etrurla,
OF the Cunard Line, and the Great East
ern, with hull go feet long-not failure,
Tor it helped lay the Atlantic
cable, and that was enough glory
for one ships existence-and in
an ago which for purposes Of
war has launched the screw-sloops like
the Idaho the Shenandoah, til. Ossippe,
and our iron-clads like the Kalamazoo,
the Roanoke and the Dunderberg, and
those which have already been buried in
the deer like the Monitor, the Housa-
tonic, this Weehawken and the Tecumseh.
the tenn pests ever since sounding volley
over their water sepulchers, and the
SCARED veterans of war shipping, like the
Constitution. or the Alliance, or the Con-
stellation, that have swung into the naval
yards 70 spend their last days, their decks
now all silent of the feet that trod them,
their rigging all silent of the hands that
chung to them, their portfolios silent of
the brazen throats that once Numbered
out OF them. If in the first century, when
war vessels We're dependent on the oars
that padded at the side OF them for pro-
pulsion. my text was suggestive; with how
much more emphasis, and meaning, and
overwheimin. "reminiscences we can cry
out, as we see the Kearsage lay across
the bows of the Alabama and sink it,
teaching foreign nations they had better
keep their hand OF our American fight. or
as We see the ram Albemarle, Of the Con-
federates, running out and in the Roam
oke, and up AMI down the coast, throw
ing every thing into confusion as no other
craft ever did, pursued by the Miami, the
Ceres, the Southfield, the Sassacus, the
Mattabesett, the Whitehead, the Comma
dore Hull, the Louisiana, the Minnesota
and other armed vessels. all trying in
vain to catch her, until Captain Gushing,
twenty-one years of age, and his men
blew her up. himself and only one other
escaping; and, as see the flagship Hart
ford, and the Richmond, and the Monon-
gahela, with other gunboats, sweep past
the batteries of Port Hudson, and the
Mississippi flows forever free to all North
ern and Southern craft, / cry out with a
patriotic emotion that can not suppress
if would, aud would not if could:
Behold also the shipsr'
At the annual deco ration 81 graves,
North and South, among Feierals and
Confederates, full justice has been done
% the memory of those who fought on the
land in our great contest, but not enough
has been said of those who on ships deck
dared aud suffered all things. Lord God
of the rivers and the sea, help me in this
sermoni So, We Admirals, Commodore res,
Commanders, Captains, pilots, gunners,
boatswalns, sail-makers, surgeons, srok-
ers, messmates and seamen of all names,
to use your own parlance, we might as
wei get under way and stand out toward
sea Let all land fubbers go ashore Full
speed now! Four bells.
Never since the sea fight OF Lepanto,
where 800 royal gaileys, manned by 81. 900
warriors. at sunrise, September Q, ISL.
met 250 royal galleys, manned by $4,000
men, and in the four hours of battle 5000
fell on ono side, and q, go on the other;
yea, never since the day when at Actium,
NJ r,ag
with a69 ships. scattered the go
ships of Mark Antony and gained uni
versal dominion as the prize; yea, since
the day when at Salamis the 1000 galIeys
of the Persians, manned BY $4,000 men,
were crushed by Greeks with less than a
third Of that force; yea, never since the
time Of Noah. the first ship captain, has
the world seen such a miraculous crea-
ton as that of the American navy in 1861
There were about 30 available seam en- in
all the navy stations and receiving ships,
and here and there an old vessel Yet
orders were given to blockade 3, SOD miles
OF seacoast, greater than the whole coast
Of Europe, and besides that, the Ohio, Ten
nessee, Cumberland, Mississippi and
other great rivers, covering an extent of
700 more miles, were to be patroled. No
wonder the whole civilized world burst
into guffaw of laughter at the seeming
tmposs bility- But the work was done,
done almost Immediately, done thorough
", and done with speed and
cpnsummate skill that ecllpsed
all the history of naval architecture.
What brilliant achievements are sug-
gested by the mere mention Of the ma mes
OF the Rear Admirals. If all they did
should be written, every one, suppose
that even the world itself could not con-
tain the books that should be written.
But these names have received the honors
due. The most of them went to their graves
under the cannonade Of all the forts, navy
yards and mep-of-war, the flags Of all the
shipping and capitels at haf-mast
But recite to-day the deeds Of our nav
al heroes who have not yet received ap-
propriate recogn ton.
Behold also the ships.
As We will never know what our ma.
honal prosperity is worth until we realize
what it cost, recall the unrecited fact
that the men Of the navy ran especial
risks They had not only the human
weaponry to contend with, but the tides,
the fog. the storm. Not like other ships
could they run into harbor at the ap-
proach Of An equinox, or cyclone, or hur-
ricane, because the harbors were hostile.
A miscalculation Of a tide might leave
them on bar. and fog might overthrow
all the plans Of wisest Commodore and
Admiral, and accident might leave them,
not on the land ready for an ambulance,
but at the bottom Of the sea, as when the
torpedo blew up the Tecumseh, in Mobile
bay, and nearly all on board persisted.
Ihey were at the mercy of the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, which have no mercy.
Cucn teupests as wrecked the Spanish
armada might any day swoop upon the